Slate roofing



(No Model.)

P. GAMES. SLATB ROOFING.

No. 595,618. Patented Dec. 14,1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.b

PAUL GAMBS, OF BURKHART, OHIO.

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SPECIFICATION-forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,618, dated December 14, 1897. Application filed February 20, 1895. Serial No. 539,159. (No model.)

ment of roofing-plates, with special referencel to slates or analogous roofing material adapted to be laid in courses with the contiguous edges of the members overlapped to form a watershed.

The object in view is to provide a roof construction having the plates or members, as slates, laid in diagonal courses, wherein the border or bounding plates or members at each edge of the surface of the roof are of a uniform size and shape to enable such border or bounding plates or members to be either manufactured or prepared prior yto the application of the roofingmaterial to the framing.

Further objects and advantagesof this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of a section of a roof constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same on the line 2 2 of Fig. l.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures of the drawlngs.

The roof-plates l, which constitute the body portion of the roof embodying my invention,

` are square in plan, and they are preferably laid in diagonal courses parallel with the diagonally-disposed roofing-timbers or purlins 2, each plate or member spanning the interval between contiguous purlins to provide for nailing to both.

The advantage in arranging the roofing plates or members in diagonal courses resides in the fact that it is possible to so dispose said plates or members as to cover three of the corners of a rectangular plate, leaving only the fourth angle or cornerexposed, and hence it is possible to apply a securing device, such as a nail, at each of three corners of the plate to insure the proper attachment and guard against the displacement of the plate by wind or other force.

In addition to the main rectangular roofing plates or members I employ a series of auxiliary border or bounding plates 3 of rightangled-triangular construction, the base and altitude lines or edges ofthe said triangular platesV being of different lengths, and these auxiliaryplates are arranged with their hypotenuse edges flush or in alinement with each other to form the edges of the surface covered by the improved roofing. vThe difference between the lengths of the base and altitude of these auxiliary roong-plates is equalto the extent of lap of one plate over another arranged lower in the series or course. For instance, referring to Fig. l, it will be seen that at the right-hand lower or starting corner of the surface to be roofed each rightangled-triangular auxiliary plate is disposed with its hypotenuse flush with an edge of the proposed roof or forming a part of such edge; but the base and altitude edges, respectively, of these auxiliary plates are arranged contiguous to each other, the short edge 3ad of the plate which is arranged at the side edge of the roofed surface overlapping the long edge of the plate which is arranged flush with the lower edge of the roofed surface. Said short edge of the upper or side auxiliary plate is extended over or overlapped beyond the long edge of the contiguous lower or bottom auxiliary plate a distance equal to the difference in length between the long and short edges of each of said auxiliary plates. Obviously in the draWings,Fig. 1 ,only the exposed edges of each plate are shown in full lines, while the concealed edges are indicated in dotted lines to show the extent of lap. The initial or iirst-laid auxiliary plate on the lower edge of the roofed surface is not a complete right-angled triangle, for the reason that in order to attain the desired lap of the initial auxiliary plate at the side edge and have the exposed lower edge of said second-named triangular plate, or the one at the side edge of the roof, to start exactly from the corner of the roofed surface it is necessary to cut off the projecting acute angle of the lower auxiliary plate, as will be seen by reference to the dotted lines in Fig. l. The exposed surfaces, however, of these corner or initial auxiliary plates are of exactly right-angledtriangular shape, and, furthermore, said exposed surfaces are of exactly identical area. The only dilerence between the exposed surfaces is as to position, from the fact that the longer of the two right-angularly-disposed edges of one plate is contiguous to the shorter of the right-angularly-disposed edges of the other plate. Starting from these above-described initial plates, the rooiing members are laid in diagonal courses parallel with the purlins or roofing-timbers, each plate being arranged to overlap the next lower plate a distance equal to the lap of the upper initial auxiliary plate over the lower auxiliary plate, or equal to the difference between the lengths of the right-angularly-disposed edges of said auxiliary plates. The result of this arrangement is that all of the border or bounding auxiliary plates at each edge of the roofed surface are of uniform shape and dimensions. This feature of the construction is of peculiar advantage from the fact that the auxiliary or odd roofing-plates may be prepared in the factory or may be prepared by the workmen preparatory to applying the Iirst plate to the roof-frame. No measurement or trial to determine the necessary sizes of the several auxiliary or odd plates is necessary.

The plates are fastened to the roof-framing by means of securing devices, such as nailsV 4 or their equivalents, one of these securing devices being arranged at each of three corners of each platewnamely, the side and upper corners-and, obviously, each securing device passes through at least two of the roofing-plates at the overlapped edges. The securing devices of each roofing-plate are covered and concealed by the overlapping edges of the contiguous upper plates of the same and adjoining courses. Hence only one angle of each roofing-plate remains unsecured, and this angle, with the contiguous right-angularly-disposed edges which form the angle, serves to conceal the securing devices of the plates overlapped thereby.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- A roof consisting of square main plates or members arranged in diagonal courses parallel with similarly-disposed purlins, and auxiliary right-angled-triangular border or bounding plates or members with their hypotenuse edges in alinement with the contiguous edges of the roofed surface, and having right-angularly-disposed edges of dierent lengths, the initial or first-laid auxiliary plates at one corner of the roofed surface being arranged with the shorter of the rightangularly-disposed edges of one plate overlapping the longer of the right-angularly-disposed edges of the other plate, and the lapped portion of each plate being equal with the difference in length between the long and short right-angularly-disposed edges of the auxiliary plates, substantially as specified.

PAUL GAMES.

Witnesses J. B. WILLIAMS, REED WILLIAMS. 

